Best Sword and Sorcery Books

Conan The Barbarian

by Howard, Robert E.

When someone mentions Sword and Sorcery, what comes to mind is Conan the Barbarian, arguably the greatest representation of the genre. It’s true that the story of Conan has been more influential than any other genre wor...

Elric Of Melnibone (Elric) Start here

by Moorcock, Michael

The first of the Elric Saga, this novel is signficant because the protagonist is a magic user and a bit frail—not quite the typical Sword and Sorcery hero.

Elric is the prince of a dying race, a pale, morose champion of right, despite the cards stacked against him. He's a physical weakling who needs to take drugs and relies on evil magic to survive. This puts him at odds wi...

Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser

by Chaykin, Howard

Leiber helped to pioneer the sword-and-sorcery genre and is widely hailed as one of the most influential fantasy writers ever. Unfortunately, he's never received the credit he deserves for such an influential work. Many...

Chronicles Of Amber (Amber Chronicles)

by Zelazny, Roger

A 10 book chronicle--these stories combine other worlds, magical elements, mystery, shadow, and science.

The Amber Chronicles is a complex blend of genres and plot. It starts like a murder mystery, drawing the reader in, then it moves on to a mixture of sci-fi and fantasy. However, while Zelanzy's tension-building goes a...

Jirel Of Joiry

by Moore, C. L.

Jirel of Joiry was a character that featured in a series of short stories in Weird Tales. Ruling her own fictional kingdom somewhere in medieval France, her stories usually revolve around her quests to take revenge on th...

Works By Clark Ashton Smith (Works By Clark Ashton Smith)

by Smith, Clark Ashton

This author, together with Robert Howard and HP Lovecraft, helped pioneer a whole genre of "weird tales" that the public had never encountered before. Clark blends together different genres: horror, fantasy, and science...

Death Dealer

by Frazetta, Frank

True to classic Sword and Sorcery, there are plenty of barbarians, wizards, and seductresses lining the pages of this classic work. The story centers on Gath of Baal, a barbarian guarding a realm that borders both a dese...

Imaro (Imaro) Start here

by Saunders, Charles

A classic example of the Sword and Sorcery sub-genre, features a hero who fights humans, beasts, and demons. A noteworthy example that mixes somewhat familiar histories with legend.

You don't normally read about an African hero in fantasy literature, but Saunders creates a compelling episodic Sword & Sorcery tale with Imaro.The titular hero grows up as an outcast from his tribe, born to a mother who...

The Black Company (The Chronicles Of The Black Company) Start here

by Cook, Glen

An elite mercenary unit is the focus of this series. It is a mix of fantasy, gritty realism, and military fiction. It is often cited as an inspiration for the Grimdark sub-genre.

In an era when fantasy was about honorable farm boys with magic swords and a noble destiny, Glen Cook said 'fuck that mess; let's have some amoral pricks doing bad deeds in a dark world, that's way cooler'. And you kn...

The Black Company

by Cook, Glen

This is a different breed of fantasy fiction than its pulp fiction brethren. However, there are many elements found in the Black Company that have Sword and Sorcery qualities to them.Glen Cook is one of the modern author...

Sword Of Shadows (Sword Of Shadows)

by Jones, J. V.

I can't say enough good things about this amazing fantasy series except that the author has gone completely AWOL and, as of 2015, looks like she's pretty much abandoned writing at this point.At one point, maybe close to...

Legend (Drenai Tales) Start here

by Gemmell, David

Gemmell specializes in heroic fantasy. His best book is widely regarded as Legend. Legend doesn’t try to be anything but what it is: a heroic adventure with lots of blood, battles, babes, and badass magic. There’s a plot...

Malazan Book Of The Fallen (The Malazan Book Of The Fallen)

by Erikson, Steven

A grand and epic series with a huge cast of characters with epic battles, sieges, mages, and carnage.

Steven Eriksen has been both lauded and criticized for his extreme detail, and that extends to his magic system. In Malazan, magic comes from warrens, a realm from which mages and shamans can draw their power. Some...

The Broken Sword

by Anderson, Poul

The Broken Sword explores what happens when a human child is exchanged at birth and taken and raised by the elves. It is a solid bit of writing and a masterful story. This dark fantasy borrows strongly from Nordic Mythol...

Heroes Die (The Acts Of Caine) Start here

by Stover, Matthew Woodring

A novel about two worlds that blends Science Fiction and Fantasy. An action packed adventure filled with real danger, sorcery, and a complex social system.

The Acts of Caine series takes adventure fantasy and drags it sixteen miles through the mud, and then tortures what's left. In a dystopian future, humanity has discovered a way to travel to parallel dimensions. One of...

Sword-dancer (Tiger And Del) Start here

by Robertson, Jennifer

If you are looking for some classic sword and sorcery that combines action and romance in equal spades, The Sword Dancer series delivers on this. The characters evolve dramatically over the series, there’s a lot of roman...

The Sword, The Ring, And The Chalice

by Chester, Deborah

Another modern sword & sorcery tale. There’s a lot of swashbuckling swordplay, adventure, and romance present in this novel. While some might say the series is more high fantasy  than sword and sorcery, there’s enough sw...

The Book Of Sword (Books Of Swords)

by Saberhagen, Fred

A great tale that doesn’t take itself too seriously and one that doesn’t get bogged down with the little details. This fantasy marks the heyday of the 60s and 70s style of fantasy. Because of this, the series is easy to...

A Tale Of The King's Blades (King's Blades)

by Duncan, Dave

Duncan’s managed to make this list with 3 series. King’s Blades are some sword-heavy fantasy for those who like fantasy full of swashbuckling, politics, and raw action. This is not epic fantasy as much as it is an action...